[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11990-11991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            PASS RUSSIA PNTR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss an issue which I hope we 
will be addressing in the coming days.
  There is a great deal of confusion about the possibility of our 
passing PNTR for Russia. Some are laboring under the impression that 
this is a reward to Vladimir Putin and Russia; and, in fact, the 
opposite is the case. We know that Vladimir Putin--in fact, many people 
say they look at him and what they are reminded of is the KGB. We know 
that Vladimir Putin, according to many reports, is attempting to 
reassemble the former Soviet Union. We know that he has grossly 
violated human rights. We know that they have a massive bureaucracy, 
crony capitalism, and a very corrupt court system. That's why, Mr. 
Speaker, it is very important for us to make sure that we pass Russia 
PNTR.
  According to The Wall Street Journal in an editorial last week, they 
made it clear, Vladimir Putin does not want to us to pass the Magnitsky 
Act, which is part of PNTR, and they go on to say that he probably 
would be just as happy if we did not have PNTR. Why? Because based on 
overwhelming votes that took place in the last 2 weeks in the Russian 
Parliament, in the Duma, the lower house, and the Federated Council, 
the upper house, overwhelming votes, Russia is going to become a member 
of the World Trade Organization. I personably believe that's a good 
thing. It will take a great step in the direction of forcing Russia to 
live with a rules-based trading system, to address those issues of 
crony capitalism, a corrupt court system, and a massive bureaucracy.
  But, Mr. Speaker, having said that, I think it is important to note 
that we've seen action taken here in the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and we have seen a great deal 
of enthusiasm focused on the Magnitsky Act.
  What is the Magnitsky Act? It is legislation that is named for Sergei 
Magnitsky, who was a whistleblower who focused on basically corruption 
that existed within the tax reporting system, basically, tax fraud. He 
reported on that, and he was imprisoned. He died in 2009. Mr. Speaker, 
what happened, very sadly, according to most reports, is that he was 
beaten to death.
  Well, what does this legislation do? Something, again, Vladimir Putin 
would be virulently opposed to. It actually penalizes anyone who was 
involved in those human rights violations against Sergei Magnitsky. So, 
Mr. Speaker, this is a good thing. And at the same time in passing 
PNTR, we will say that the 140 million consumers in Russia will have 
access to goods and services from the United States of America.
  Under the measure that has passed both houses of the Russian 
Parliament, as I said, overwhelming majorities, it will go into effect 
within the next couple or 3 weeks. What we need to do, Mr. Speaker, we 
need to recognize that the world will have access to that consumer 
market. We need to create jobs here in the United States of America. We 
need to open up that market for U.S. goods and services.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, when this vote comes forward, don't believe that 
this is somehow a reward to Vladimir Putin and the people who are 
leading Russia. This, in fact, is a great benefit for workers in the 
United States of America, businesses in the United States of America, 
and a benefit to the consumers of Russia who will have access to our 
goods and services.
  I want to congratulate, in closing, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues Billy 
Long and Tom Reed, who, along with 71 other of the newly elected 
Members,

[[Page 11991]]

sent a letter that indicates strong support of this effort.

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